Glendale Community College cross-country sweeps at conference finals
For the first time since 2013, the Glendale Community College cross-country program swept the team championships at the Western State Conference Championships held at Oxnard College on Friday afternoon.
The women won their 12th straight crown by blasting College of the Canyons, 30-87, while the men captured their first conference title in three years via a 27-86 victory over Cuesta College.
“There’s nothing to celebrate yet, because we’re not state champs yet, but we did well,” GCC Coach Eddie Lopez said. “For the ladies, it’s 12 in a row now, so we’re proud of that. For the guys, it was a tactical race and they ran the way they were supposed to.”
For the Vaqueros men, they were led again over the four-mile course by sophomore Shane Thompson, a former CIF Southern Section Division I champion at Burroughs High.
Thompson finished second in 20 minutes, 49.81 seconds, which was a little under 20 seconds behind winner Sean McDermott (20:31.11) of Cuesta.
Thompson was one of five scoring Vaqueros to place within the top 10.
Sophomores Luis Celaya (fourth, 21:02.58) and Alejandro Ambrossio (fifth, 21:03.05) were close behind Thompson, while fellow Burroughs product Justin Villagran (seventh, 21:10.52) and freshman Raymond Lopez (ninth, 21:26.08) finished off the scoring.
The victory is the fourth for Glendale in eight races, but first since it won the conference preview meet in Bakersfield on Sept. 30.
As for the Glendale ladies, they were their normal stellar selves.
About the only negative was that the squad didn’t produce this year’s conference individual champion for the first time since 2013. That honor was earned by Cuesta’s Miranda Daschian, who won the crown with a three-mile time of 18:35.50.
Besides that note, everything else fell into place for Glendale.
The sophomore pack of Giselle Masedo and Glendale High alumna Leana Setian set the pace for the Vaqueros as Masedo earned silver in 18:36.94, while Setian claimed the bronze in 18:49.63.
Glendale freshman Fiona Faulkner placed sixth in 19:03.87, while a four pack of Vaqueros took spots ninth through 12th.
The first two of those runners - freshman Angelica Salas and Glendale High graduate Fabiola Naranjo - earned the squad’s last two scoring spots in times of 19:26.89 and 19:30.07, respectively.
The victory was the seventh in eight races for the Vaqueros, who’s lone non-victory was a fifth-place showing at the Mark Covert Classic on Sept. 3, which included competition from NCAA universities.
Glendale will enjoy an upcoming bye, as the men’s and women’s teams are back in action at the Southern California Championships on Nov. 4 at Irvine Park.
“We have two races left and we have to stay fresh. We’re healthy and now we’re heading into the best part of the year. There’s no exact science to peaking, but we’re close to being at our best.”
